What exactly are information products and how can they help you drive business success? Although I did not invent this phrase, I define “information products” as any form of knowledge derived from study, experience, or instruction that is packaged for human consumption.

That may be a pretty broad definition, but on purpose! You can use information products in countless ways to fuel the success of your business. They can range from practical business-related tools to a powerful medium for self-expression.

They can take a variety of digital and online media-based formats, including self-published books, e-books, special reports, publications, articles, tools, newsletters, audio programs, multimedia productions, home study courses, training, tutorials, software systems, games, tips, recorded interviews, directories, membership information sites and more.

Wondering how this image fits you and how information products can help boost your internal productivity or external business prospects?

Whether you are a CEO, manager, consultant, independent service professional, sole proprietor, entrepreneur, aspiring author, developer, or instructor, this article may serve to ignite your imagination regarding ways to engage and wow your audiences with information products. ?

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First, plan to create once and produce many times
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One of the hallmarks of information products is that you can create them once and then try to repackage them into many different formats. Once you develop a basic set of material, you can derive it in a number of ways for a variety of different purposes. For example:

— Your information products could start as simple text-based projects and then evolve into multimedia productions that include text, audio, screen capture, full-motion video, and animation.

— You can create individual items or a collection of mixed media and formats for virtually any purpose under the sun.

— They may be displayed or reproduced only on a website, downloaded digitally, or packaged as physical media, such as on a CD/DVD, in print, or both.

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Next, identify your audiences and focus on what they need
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You and your audience may live in the corporate, academic, nonprofit, or business world, for example. In either case, you can create information products to help people expand their skills or consume ideas, wisdom, or knowledge. Below are three examples that illustrate some of the possibilities.

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Example 1: You just “can” do it

Elisa leads a process improvement team within her organization. In the past year, the team has made so much progress that her management asks her group to provide in-depth training to all the other teams in the division.

After brainstorming and a long discussion, Elisa and the team come up with an idea to “package” the basics of the training program in the form of quick start guides.

Each guide will include screenshots showing a sample of a tool, a diagram of where it fits into the overall process, and a voiceover explaining how and when to use it. They can be reproduced from the company intranet and printed as job aids.

Due to time constraints, the guides will not be luxurious. However, they will record the team’s knowledge for posterity and help other teams apply the skills.

Elisa’s team can use the in-person training to demonstrate how to use the guides and provide practice and feedback on using the tools.

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Example 2: show, tell and sell

Angélica is the director of a business consulting company. She faces a double challenge: documenting her internal operations so she can delegate more of her growing list of tasks to her staff AND expanding her business model.

To solve the operations problem and better systematize her business, Angelica begins by creating a series of checklists. To avoid getting too voluminous with details, she decides to narrate several of the longer sequences.

At other points, it uses desktop video software tools to record visual demonstrations. Finally, you link the audio and video files to the checklists for your staff to use as needed.

While creating the checklists, Angelica suddenly has an idea: she has just created a new business consulting model!

Her clients are also having the same problems she is, so she can start offering a service (performed by her staff) to create “show and tell” business procedures. After a brief promotional period, she soon has several very interested clients.

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Example 3 – Ask and Receive

Allen runs fundraisers for a non-profit organization. She approaches local foundations and charitable donors to seek funding for the group’s ongoing community programs. Allen realizes that educating potential taxpayers is a high priority need. He would love to commission a video documentary to show what his organization has accomplished, but unfortunately, his budget doesn’t go that far.

So consider another alternative: a simple but polished “infomercial” that can be played from your organization’s website. This production can frame the problem, explain how the problem affects the community, and tell what your group is doing about it.

Using an inspiring slide-based presentation complete with narration, success stories, images, charts, graphs, and illustrations, you’re sure you can get the group’s message across more powerfully than any text-based promotional material can alone.

Plus, Allen can distribute the presentation online and on CD at your next fundraising dinner!

In conclusion, these are just a few of the many situations that lend themselves to the creation of information products. You can produce items with both audio and video elements relatively easily, thanks to a variety of inexpensive software tools. Even with limited time or budget, you can develop simple, elegant, and imaginative ways to bring ideas and information to your colleagues, clients, and collaborators.